The Osceola times., 1887-08-20
INVESTIGATING.

tntendeut <AfmsuohS'
CHArswoRTH, H., Aug. H.-The BOARD
of Railroad Commissioners have begun an
investigation of the recent disaster
J. j. Sutherland, one Of the engineers Oh
the train, was sworn. He said he was
locomotive engineer on the Toledo, reoria
& Western road, running engine No. u IN
the lead. The train was behindlts seheuuie
time, having started from Peoria thirty
minutes late. Some time was lost az
Weston and Forest, and the train was
about two hours late when II drew out OF
Forest. He saw as he approached the
bridge what seemed to be flames on the
south side of the track. He then saw
something was wrong with the bridge,
but it was too late to do anything
His fireman called to him TO jump
and leaped from the engine. He
got onto the foot board to prepare himself
for whatever came, but made up his mind
not TO jump. When he first saw the bridge
it looked like embers. II seemed to burst
into flames when he ran on the bridge. II
was not raging fire, nor did it communi-
cate with the cars on the bridge. He saw.
as he expressed it, death staring him in
the face" He shut Off his engine and felt
the bridge sink Sutherland then opened
the valve to get the train through. The
force Of the train pushed the engine over,
breaking il loose from the tender. He
stopped his engine and ran back
to the wreck. Witness carried
water and extingulshed every thing in
the nature of an incendiary fire. He was
running between thirty and thirty-fvs
miles per hour, but could not tell exactly.
He said he saw danger at the bridge, the
appearance being that OF burning embers
or Goals. II was not blazing at the time.
There were more live Goals under the
bridge. Witness said he was not in his
normal condition as he crossed the bridge,
inasmuch as he never expected TO get out
alive. There was no question in his mind
but that the bridge was ON fire. He had
no power to stop tn, train between the
time he saw the fire and his arrival at the
bridge. His engine had no r-brake.
Neither whistle was sounded for lack of
| time There could be no doubt Jf the
bridge being on fire when the engines
crossed. The flames were famed by the
passage OF the train.
John Rogers, fireman Of Sutherland's en-
gine, was sworn. He saw little fire on
the side of the track near the bridge on
| the night of the accident. He observed
| sparks rising and Goals in the center of
the track, and jumped from the engine
calling to his engineer to follow. Wit
ness and another fireman ran the engine
| to Piper City and gave the alarm to the
| citizens of the town. He thought the
bridge was burned away when he jumped.
Witness saw certain things which satis-
| fed him the bridge was burned. The
| train was running pretty fast when the
| accident occurred.
Axel Applegreen, the fireman OF the
second engine in the train, was sworn.
Witness was leaning on the sill of the cab
| window on the left hand side when the
engine jumped up in the air and turned
over on its side. He was scalded and
thought "he was gone" as he expressed
It. He saw nothing of the fire at the time
of the accident, but saw 1t Immediately
afterwards.
s. F. Armstrong, superintendent of the
| road was sworn. He was on the excur-
| sion train at the time of the accident.
| The train was carefully Inspected at
| Peoria. and under his supervision. 1t was
to run through to the Falls and consisted
Of six sleepers, two chair cars, five ordin-
ary coaches, pay car, a baggage car and
| two engines. The engineers watch
stopped at II As p. m. and he judges this
was the exact time of the accident. Wit
ness felt the front engineer reverse his en-
gine and apply the brake about 300 feet
from the bridge. He looked down and
saw the burning bridge under the front
platform. Men with axes chopped down
the abutments so as to kill the flames. Fire
| evidently caught in the east end of the
bridge and was working down in the old
stringers used for the bulkheads. Orders
were issued by him to roadmasters to
burn the dead grass aud weeds. J. II.
Markey, bridge inspector, on May IA, re-
ported the bridge in good condition and
good for two years. The upper
works were but fourteen months old and
the bridge was reported TO witness to be In
good condition. On Tuesday last he
| ordered section men to go over the entire
section under their charge and inspect the
bridges. He did this for fear of forest
fires. This order was sent to c. Ennis,
| division foreman at Gilman, and ordered
| all section men to go over their sections
the last thing Wednesday night and
examine bridges. The train was running
from thirty to forty miles per hour. His
track was good for forty-fve miles per
hour. The road is in fine condition-steel
rails with fish bars.
The investigation will be resumed at
Peoria early in the week A number Of
witnesses will be subppned and ex-
amined at that time.
| CHATswoRTH, H., Aug. Nv. A. Cook,
whose father is now one of the coroner's
Jury investigating the cause Of the disas
ter, gave an account of some things he saw
on that fearful night, which have not yet
been published. 81 was one Of the first"
said he, "to reach the wreck from Chats
worth As neared the dismantled train
| stumbled over some thing, and when |
got into the light of the burning bridge, |
found blood upon my boots. had fallen
over a cou Pile Of victims who were quite
dead. In one car saw a number Of peo-
pie who would have easily filed two.
thirds of the car. crowded with the
seats and all into less than
one third Of the compart-
ment. Not one of them could move. Dead
and living were jammed together in one
hdeous mass. One man had been thrown
| up against the roof of the coach, and his
arms in some manner had been pinned
there so that he could not be moved. He
was suspended from the roof and was
suffering horribly. Suddenly man
entered the compartment who was
evidently felow-passenger. II looked as
II he was giving the other man assistance,
but | afterward learned that he had
robbed the victim Of a valuable gold watch
and $40, and then went away, leaving him
hanging there"
| Rear Admiral Luce's Resignation.